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Lachlan Macquarie was an early governor of New South Wales, Australia. At the time, New South Wales was an English colony. Macquarie worked with former criminals, called Emancipists, and gave them jobs. Some colonists opposed his work, and he eventually returned to England.

(1761-1824). As governor of New South Wales, Australia, from 1809 to 1821, Lachlan Macquarie opened economic opportunities for the freed convicts who made up much of the population. On his arrival in office he found himself obliged to replace a corps of military men who had mutinied against the previous governor, William Bligh. This was the same Bligh who had been captain of the ship Bounty when its crew mutinied in 1789 (see Bligh, William).